The Case of the Damaged Detective by Drew Hayes Book Review

The Case of the Damaged Detective by Drew Hayes. It is Five Minute Sherlock number one, and apparently there are at least three in the series. I may read or audiobook more of them since this one was an Audible original. I am not sure if I bought it with a credit or in a two-for-one deal, but it looked fun and funny.

A mystery road trip buddy comedy action adventure from the author of Secondhand Curses. A dance club full of bodies, cause of death a mystery, and a lone survivor: a man raving like a lunatic wearing only a deerstalker hat. The man, who calls himself Sherman Holmes, is being studied by a top-secret government agency. He can barely cling to reality one minute yet seem like a genius the next. His brain may be the greatest scientific breakthrough of the millennium if anyone can figure out how to access it.

Enter the agent codenamed Watson. Once a rising star, a betrayal sent him into uncertainty and paranoia. Now, saddled with moving Sherman to a more secure facility, he must prove he's still up to the task. With enemies on their heels, a whole country to cross, and Sherman ranting beside him, the job proves more challenging than Watson anticipated. With Watson's experience and the bizarre insights of Sherman’s twisted mind, Sherman might survive. But can Watson survive Sherman?

The book is listed as a mystery, but I would call it detective comedy or buddy cop. Only one of them is technically a cop, and one is more of a consulting detective. The mystery revolves around Sherman and how he got his abilities. Sherman is found in a dance club where everyone else is dead while he is dancing and raving, nude except for his hat. They know he didn't do it, but they don't know what happened.

Sherman has Sherlock Holmes-style insight at times, but sometimes he acts like a complete lunatic. A special agent comes in, only given a code name at first, but Sherman calls him Watson, claiming to be a descendant of Sherlock Holmes. From what I understand, Sherlock Holmes was not a real person, so Sherman could not literally be a descendant.

The two go on a buddy cop detective comedy road trip across the United States. Sherman gets to dictate a surprising number of things, even though they are supposed to be traveling incognito. He stands out and is difficult to manage. Watson ends up having to babysit him, almost like wrangling cats.

At one point, they go to a county fair with a jelly bean counting contest. Sherman calculates the correct number to win food tickets for every food stand, gets excited, then immediately wanders away and forgets why he was there. Watson tries to claim the prize, but the vendor says he can only award it to Sherman, who is long gone.

The story is silly and campy at times, and Sherman can be frustrating. One reviewer mentions that we are supposed to feel frustrated and confused by Sherman, just as Watson does. As readers, we experience the cringe Watson goes through, being essentially in the Watson perspective.

At a motel, they try to lay low, but they are ambushed by people attempting to kidnap Sherman. Others have a bounty on Sherman and want to bring him back. Watson handles the situation cleverly, but afterward they escape in a big blue Cadillac convertible, chased through back roads, fields, and even by a monster truck.

Every time I clicked on this book, I kept misreading the title as The Defective Detective, which felt accurate because Sherman is not innately a detective. His brilliance seems almost artificially triggered, giving him highs and lows. If he uses too much mental bandwidth, he passes out and has to recover.

The book can be quirky, funny, and enjoyable, but Sherman can grate on your nerves. I felt bad for Watson, hoping he could survive long enough to retire. Watson is looking for a personal redemption arc after being betrayed by someone he trusted, leaving him with trust issues. Sherman, meanwhile, has the personality of an innocent child but the brain of a genius, flitting from one interest to another. I am surprised Watson did not put him on a child harness to stop him from wandering off.

They visit a nightclub where a fight breaks out, and they are almost ambushed multiple times. Sherman has some good recommendations for escaping, but Watson does most of the operational thinking while Sherman daydreams about tourist attractions. You will have to read the book to find out if they make it.

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